Posts Tagged ‘Louisville Life’

Chenoweth Allen gives students a window to themselves

American Graduate Champions commit their time, skills, and resources to ensure young people succeed, playing active roles in improving educational outcomes for students — and creating positive environments daily for youth in their communities.

As part of the American Graduate initiative, KET is recognizing Kentuckians who are champions of education in our communities. This month we salute Chenoweth Allen, who works to ensure the educational success of individuals in a variety of important settings.

When Chenoweth Allen was in college, she majored in art history — and then went on to a career in volunteerism, and as a stay-at-home mom. But when she returned to school, it was to pursue a career in art therapy — one which allows her to further her interest in psychology and use her art background to help people make changes in their lives.

“My job is to help people best express themselves through using art,” said Allen, whose caring demeanor and open smile invite her students’ trust.

“Different media have various therapeutic benefits,” she continued. “Pounding clay or working with finger paints is a good way to release energy whereas working with collage — or actually sculpting with the clay to create a symbol — you’re going to have a different therapeutic growth or healing.”

Allen divides her time among three institutions in Louisville: the Family Scholar House, whose four locations provide housing and support services for single parents pursuing four-year college degrees; the West End School, a public boarding school for boys from disadvantaged backgrounds; and Kentucky Refugees Ministries, which provides help and support for new arrivals to this country.

“One of the things that’s really cool about working at the Family Scholar House is the adult women I work with. They are really motivated to change, to break the cycle they have been in,” she said.

“They are wonderful to work with in art therapy because they want to know about themselves, they want to recognize all they have overcome to get where they are.”

There are three ways an art therapist helps people achieve such growth, Allen explains: through the process itself of making art, through the product that they create, and through participation in the creative process.

“That’s the verbal dialogue about the art,” she said. “Participation is that deeper questioning, or in groups, how they participate with each other. And what’s very cool is that it can be any one of those parts at any given time. Some days it might not be at all about the end product.”

Part of my role is to help them navigate those weekly adjustments between home and school, and to really figure out a sense of who they are.

— Chenoweth Allen, art therapist

When working with rambunctious adolescents at the West End School, Allen also finds that putting them to work in a medium as exciting as shaving cream can have a lot of benefits in releasing energy and frustration. And if they’re having a difficult time in the classroom, a piece of art they’re proud of can give them the confidence to boost their academic achievement as well.

“What I love about West End School is that these are really outstanding young men who may not have had opportunities that other kids would have had. Part of my role is to help them navigate those weekly adjustments between home and school, and to really figure out a sense of who they are.

“It’s about building a success identity and helping them express themselves. This particular group of boys I’ve found has really high expectations of themselves and because of that, they get really frustrated really easily. So helping them with art is a way of helping them through that.”

Underlying all her work is the message that betterment of self is possible and can be realized through art. In the case of Kentucky Refugee Ministries, the immediate barriers of language and socialization could stop immigrants in their tracks, but Allen is able to provide a safe place for them to grow in ways as simple as practicing their new language or remembering and grieving for the country they left behind.

In each of these institutions where Allen brings art and hope, her goal is the same: to open each person’s eyes to the person Allen sees, who speaks to her through their art.

“I can see possibilities through their art and through their conversation that they are not yet able to see. And then, as we work together, they are,” she said.

“By recognizing themselves as survivors, recognizing their strengths, they are able to change their paths. And the way that happens is that they see it in the art — and then they are able to see it in themselves. Their creations are what is healing.”

KET productions win four 2014 Regional Emmy Awards

KET productions detailing the rich fabric of life in the Commonwealth have received four Regional Emmy Awards — the highest awards bestowed in the television industry!

KET Producer Tom Bickel was recognized for a program capturing the work of Kentucky writer and Affrilachian Poets founder Walker as he illuminates the life of 19th century African-American jockey Isaac Murphy with poetry and drama. Kentucky Muse: Frank X Walker: I Dedicate This Ride was honored in the Arts/Entertainment category. Watch it now!

KET’s Kelly Campbell was recognized for his piece on world-renowned horse trainers Dan James and Dan Steers of Nicholasville. They were featured in the Kentucky Life segment Double Dan Horsemanship. The Double Dans specialize in “liberty” acts — guiding the horses through their moves without a bridle or halter. Their performances include Roman riding, where the rider stands astride a pair of galloping horses, with one foot on each horse’s back. They also include fire routines and comedy shows. Watch it now!

Louisville Life producers Jayne McClew, Gary Pahler, and Angelic Phelps received Emmys for KET’s weekly series bringing to life the cultural scene of the state’s largest city. It won in the Nostalgia Program category and you can watch it here.

Tim Farmer received an Emmy in the Program Host/Moderator/Narrator category for his work as host of Kentucky Afield, the longest continuously running outdoor show in the nation. The program is produced by the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources and airs on KET and KET2. Watch now!

The Regional Emmys were given by the The Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and includes 13 television markets from a four-state region, including parts of Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Louisville Life, KET’s series about the events, people and culture that shape the River City, begins its seventh season with two programs that explore the diversity of Louisville and its inhabitants, hosted by Candyce Clifft. Louisville Life premieres Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7/6 pm on KET and Thursday, Dec. 13 at 7:30/6:30 pm on KET2.

In the season premiere, Louisville Life gets to know award-winning filmmaker and Louisville native Jeff Dupre, who began his career working with acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns and is the talent behind PBS’ Circus, Carrier, Broadway: The American Musical and the recent Independent Lens special Half The Sky.

The program also visits Guitar Emporium, which has been a fixture in Louisville’s Highlands neighborhood for more than 35 years, selling guitars to not only the locals, but also to such guitar legends such as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend.

Next, Stacey Yates with the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau talks about how the organization enhances Louisville’s economy through tourism as a premier destination for conventions, trade shows, corporate meetings, group tours and individual leisure travel.

Also in the season premiere, television reporter Barry Bernson, known for his off-beat stories, discusses his book, Bernson’s Corner: A Reporter’s Notebook, an account of a 47-year career spent in news.